What We Need in Marketing and Copywriting Right Now
On her journey home from the Eras Tour in London, Ann Handley reflects on the importance of compassionate marketing.
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11 Marketing Myths [Part 2]
Ann Handley returns with some more marketing myths and shares the truth on AI tools, long-form vs. short-form content, and more!
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11 Marketing Myths [Part 1]
Ann Handley dispels five commonly held marketing myths – from whether social media is still worth it to the most critical email metric.
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What Tools Do Writers Need Now?
In the rise of AI content generation, Ann Handley looks at the tools necessary for writers to engage in the creative process.
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What to Do About All the Changes in Marketing
It seems like everything is changing in the world of marketing – SEO, Google, and AI are just a few. Ann Handley shares what it means for us.
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Should We Use AI to Write First Drafts?
Ann Handley shares her thoughts on whether or not writers should use AI to write first drafts and two questions to help you decide.
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How This Marketing Program Cleaned Up: A Case Study in B2B Storytelling
A version of this story appeared in Total Annarchy, my fortnightly newsletter that helps you be a better writer, storyteller, marketer. Get it in your inbox; you’ll love it. * * * Pop quiz time: You run Marketing at a B2B company that sells industrial floor-cleaning equipment. You want to amp up awareness and demand with your audience of commercial and municipal facilities managers. But it’s… well, industrial, floor, and cleaning. What would you do as a tactic in your 2020 content strategy? Pick one: Point a camera at your CEO in a regular fireside chat to demonstrate how the brand is there for you in these trying times Hire an Instagram influencer and their family to literally eat off a scrubbed, sparkling, Covid-free floor Launch an old-school, year-long essay contest to find stories about janitors If you’re Tennant Company… you go all-in on #3. And I love it. It speaks
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6 Things Hank Green Wants You to Know About Writing
Author, YouTuber, VidCon-co-creator Hank Green distills the 8 things he wishes he knew when he was writing his first novel. There are lots of gems in his 4-minute video that apply beyond fiction-writing. Here are the 6 that apply best to any writer: You have to care about whatever you’re writing about. “I had to love [the book characters] like friends in order to have the motivation to finish telling their story.” How does this apply to you over there—writing about a restaurant point-of-sale technology or a B2B solution? Takeaway for Marketing: Find the human at the center of the story. Write that. How technology helps a single human is always more interesting than the tech itself. [Related: Vivid Writing: How to Paint a Picture in the Mind of Your Reader.] Schedules don’t matter, but momentum does. “Writing schedules are not a thing I have… but if I do
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Vivid Writing: How Do You Paint a Picture in the Mind of Your Reader? Add These 5 Things.
Big Word Day is a day that encourages people to use king-sized words just to impress others. I love words. Sometimes I like big words. (And I cannot lie!) But using big words for the sake of using big words…? So. Dumb. The point of writing is to connect with other people. To be understood. To shed a little light on the world. (If that’s not the point, you’re writing a diary.) That’s why I’m always yammering on about clear writing. But even better than clear alone is clear buddied up with vivid writing in a recognizable style. What’s “vivid writing” mean? It means you add color and description to evoke emotion. One way to do that is to use some detail. Details make writing come alive. Details paint a picture in a reader’s mind. And that’s critical in Marketing, especially, where our goal is to ignite change. So